Page 17 of Strike Fast

Kai barely stopped himself from making a face at the mention of her name and broke eye contact. “Nah. We’re taking a break.” Maybe a permanent one this time, hell if he knew.

Prentiss looked at him, and even though he didn’t say anything, his reaction was clear.Again?

Avoiding his gaze, Kai grabbed the stuff he needed for the shower and shut his locker. Ironic, him being embarrassed about how things were with Shelley considering Kai had made it no secret how he felt about Prentiss’s bitch of an ex. But Shelley had a vindictive streak when she was pissed off.

“It’s fine,” he muttered, for some reason feeling the need to elaborate. But it wasn’t fine, actually. It was exhausting. Always drama. The constant ups and downs made him feel like he was on a freaking rollercoaster. But then she’d do something so damn sweet and kind, and the make-up sex was so damn good, he’d forget about all the bad stuff and believe that things would be better going forward.

Except it never was for long.

Unsurprisingly, Prentiss let it drop and thumped a hand on Kai’s back. “See ya tomorrow.”

“Yeah, brother.” Kai was looking forward to a night chillaxing on the couch by himself. Just him and some quality time with his flat screen.

Freshly showered and changed into clean clothes, he climbed into his monster of a truck and drove back to his place, already planning what he wanted for dinner. He didn’t have much in the fridge and didn’t feel like doing a big grocery shop on the way home, so he’d just order in from his favorite barbecue joint and watch some rugby.

The moment he stepped off the elevator onto his floor of the apartment building, the smell hit him. The delicious, mouthwatering aroma of homemade gorgeousness that was coming from apartment 7F. He inhaled deeply. Damn, that woman cooked like a goddess.

Stepping inside his condo, he tossed his keys onto the kitchen counter and turned to head to his bedroom, but stopped dead when he saw he wasn’t alone.

Shelley sat on his living room couch, watching him with her arms crossed and a pissed-off expression on her face.

He tensed and stifled a groan. What was she doing here? He thought she’d slammed the key he’d given her onto the kitchen counter yesterday before she’d stormed out, but maybe not. Or she’d had another spare made.

“Hey,” he said in a neutral tone. He’d learned to test the waters with her after a fight, gauge her mood. Right now, she looked like she wanted to smack his face.

Her jaw flexed once, her blue eyes cold as glaciers as she stared him down. “Where’ve you been?”

Instantly his back went up. He hated it when she questioned him like that. As though she didn’t trust him. “The gym,” he answered, keeping his voice level. If he didn’t, things would escalate fast.

When he didn’t offer anything else, just stared at her from across the room, hurt crept into her expression. “I thought maybe you’d call me so we could talk this out.”

Oh, man, the thought of freaking talking about “this” any more made him want to stab himself in the eye just so he’d have an excuse to leave. “You wanted space.” She’d screamed the words at him yesterday on her way out the door. “So I was giving it to you.”

She let out a humorless laugh. “What Iwant, clearly I can’t have.” She pushed to her feet, stood there facing him in the short black dress that hugged every curve of her killer body, her long, dark hair cascading over her shoulders in shiny waves, her makeup done to perfection.

Stunningly beautiful. And yet for some reason so damn insecure inside it baffled him.

“I’m tired of being the only one willing to fight for us, Kai.”

And I’m fucking tired of fighting, period.

Sick of always trying to reassure her, to continually prove he cared and wasn’t cheating on her. He wasn’t stupid enough to say any of that aloud, though.

“What do you want from me?” he said, tired all of a sudden. This part drained him. It didn’t matter what the hell he did, he could never do or say enough to make her feel secure about their relationship. And the truth was, he was tired of trying. He just wanted a peaceful relationship. Was that too much to ask?

Her eyes flared. “I want you to love me! That’s all I’ve ever wanted, and even though you say the words, you don’t act like it. You don’t show it the way I need you to. I still come in last, even after being with you for almost a year. I’ve waited for you through missions and weeks-long training exercises, and a four-month-long deployment, yet I still—”

“I can’t help it that I’m away a lot. It’s my job,” he said, voice tight. He loved his job, had worked his freaking ass off to make FAST, wouldn’t give it up for anything. “You knew going in that that was the deal. I told you straight up how it would be.” He was actually looking forward to the training exercise next week, just to have a break from this.

“Yeah,” she said bitterly. “I guess I’m just too fucking stupid to realize that you’ll never be able to give me what I need.”

He had no idea what she wanted him to say to that, and the truth was that right now all he wanted was for her to leave. “Look, I’ve had a long day. Maybe you should just go.”

Shock flickered across her face for an instant before anger burned in her eyes. “You want me to go?Fine.” She snagged her purse from the coffee table and marched past him, the scent of her expensive perfume trailing in her wake.

The familiar scent of it had once spiked his heart rate and libido. Now it almost made him cringe.

She opened the door and stopped, her back rigid. Nailing him with a hard look over her shoulder, she paused there. “You’d better think long and hard about what you want, Kai. Because you’re this close to losing me for good,” she said, holding her index finger and thumb an inch apart.

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